International Publication No. WO 2006/042360 provides a method for producing titanium by reaction of titanium tetrachloride with magnesium in a reactor, which may comprise a fluidised bed. The temperature in the reactor is above the melting point of magnesium, but below the melting point of magnesium chloride. The method produces particles comprising titanium which are removed from the reactor and processed in order to recover titanium particles generally having a particle size of greater than 500 μm. Compliant with conventional thinking, the method of WO 2006/042360 is operated under an excess of magnesium with unreacted magnesium optionally collected and recycled to the reactor. This is understood to achieve complete conversion of TiCl4 to titanium metal, while avoiding the formation of sub-chlorides, TiCl2 and TiCl3.
The present invention provides methods for producing a composite material from at least one metal compound in which an excess of oxidant is fed to the reactor during processing. The composite material will generally be in finely divided form and the method, generally, does not place significant weight on the exclusion of by-products in the composite material. Metal recovered from the composite material may likewise be in a finely divided form.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practice.